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Screening IVF embryos for FH |
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A front page article in the Times of 15th December led with the news that a British couple have won the right to test embryos for the gene that causes familial hypercholesterolaemia (FH). Whilst the screening procedure is designed to detect the more severe or double defective copy form of FH, known as homozygous FH, which leads to enormously elevated levels of cholesterol in children from the age of 5 and often results in heart disease in childhood, it will also identify the milder single copy form which gives rise to heart disease in middle age and that can be controlled by drugs and diet.
This licence granted to a doctor at University College Hospital in London, raises ethical issues over the selection of embryos and critics will argue that the test allows couples to destroy embryos that have a good chance of becoming children with reasonably healthy lives. However, it could also mean that couples could face the dilemma of learning that all their embryos are carrying the severe double copy version of FH.
To learn more, read the full article at: Timesonline
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